Signs: Divine Providence in Cinema
With the exception of Mel Gibson's incredible film, The Passion of the Christ, Signs is the most orthodox and overtly theistic major film that Hollywood has produced in some time. Signs addresses issues of divine Providence straightforwardly and traditionally, being filled with traditional imagery and expressing clear opposition to the "random physics" mentality that pervades most modern discussions of the role of the divine plan in the universe.
In Signs, Mel Gibson plays a former presumably Episcopalian "priest" who has left his church because of disillusionment with Providence at the death of his wife. At one point, Graham (Gibson's character) tells his brother that his wife's last words were simply due to the random firings of her synapses, meant nothing, and proved to him that "there is no one watching over us," that "we are alone." He concludes from his wife's last words that things happen simply because they happen; they are caused by nothing, are random, and man is left to fend for himself. The dominant theme of the movie is Graham's conversion back to a faith in Providence from this reductionistic faith that the tragedy of his wife's death produced.
Providence, however, refuses to leave Graham alone. The movie opens with Graham finding that his fields have been vandalized by "crop markings," a famous alien ruse originating in the 1970s. It has been pretty well established that the original crop signs were hoaxes; Graham, therefore, presumes that the vandalization of his field is a similar hoax, and suggests that some local hoodlums might be responsible. Gradually, however, it becomes clear that they are not, and the appearance of an unidentified night intruder begins to shake Graham's faith in the hoax explanation. As he gradually comes to abandon his belief that the crop signs are a hoax, the role of divine Providence in the world becomes more and more clear to the viewer.
The appearance of the night intruder begins to scare him. He assumes at first that it is simply the local hooligans, returned to perpetrate some further pranks. Enlisting his brother's assistance, Graham tries to isolate the intruder. However, the intruder is able to escape by making a jump so prodigious that Merril, Graham's brother, believes that no human being could have done it. This case, like the crop signs, goes unsolved, and soon the appearance of the lights in the sky makes Graham's concerns about them moot.
At this point the traditional imagery of Providence, stars and the heavenly bodies (most brilliantly executed in literature by Dante's famous last line about "the love which moves the sun and other stars"), enters the action of the movie. The lights in the sky, which we know to be an invading alien fleet, are the first clear example of this imagery. These ships play a dual role in the film. First, of course, they are what they are: alien spaceships in an invasion fleet. Second, however, they are an image of immutable Providence, which sees and governs all. They arrive on the scene just as Graham is doubting the control of Providence over the world. Graham and Merril are watching them on television when Graham delivers his speech on the lack of divine control of the universe. But at this point Graham still doubts the existence of these aliens, just as he doubts the existence of Providence; soon he will be forced to recognize both.
As the movie continues, Graham becomes more and more convinced of the existence of the aliens, culminating in his actual contact with one in the veterinarian's house--the very same veterinarian whose falling asleep at the wheel had been responsible for his wife's death. This veterinarian plays a large role in Graham's reversion to a belief in Providence. Convinced of the uselessness of his wife's death, Graham comes to realize that it did have a meaning through the man who was responsible for it. The veterinarian's house was invaded by the aliens, but he was able to fight them off and confine one in the pantry. He thereupon prepared to leave; but before the fight, he had called Graham, whose number had been beside the phone since the accident in which Graham's wife had been killed. So Graham had come, to find the veterinarian wounded, clearly distraught, and about to leave. The veterinarian apologizes for the accident, explaining that he had never really forgiven himself, and warns Graham about the creature in the pantry. Graham, therefore, goes to investigate.
The alien attacks him, and he cuts its fingers off with a butcher knife he had found near the pantry. Now Graham has been forced to acknowledge the existence of the aliens; it has been thrust in his face--in the same way that the universal governance of Providence is being thrust in his face. So it was due to the man who killed his wife that Graham realizes the necessity of taking action to defend his family--and the importance of the death of his wife is becoming clear. Graham, however, still sees none of this, and simply begins to act to protect his children.
As the crisis escalates, the family decides to stay in the house rather than flee to the water, as the veterinarian did. They decided this because, as Morgan, Graham's son, states, it was the house where they lived with Graham's wife. Again, Graham's wife's death is responsible for an action which saves Graham's family from danger; had she been with them then, and not died months before, they may well have fled, and thus perished with so many others. Graham and Merril board up the windows and doors, and the family settles down to a final meal.
The argument that breaks out at this meal is typical of Graham's denial of Providence in the world. Morgan insists that they pray before the meal, but Graham declares that he will "not waste one more minute of my life on prayer." Beau, Graham's daughter, begins to cry, and the family comes together in one last embrace before the battle begins. Morgan's insistance on prayer shows that he realizes that his mother's death was not in vain, that he should not lose faith in God because all tragedies, even deaths, occur for a purpose. But Graham's stubbornness will not yet let him admit that God is guiding all things for the good, and when the sound of the aliens coming out of the fields into the yard interrupts their embrace, the family braces itself for the fight.
The aliens enter the house; the family takes refuge in the basement. One of the most dramatic moments in cinema is Graham pressing the door shut with his body, knowing that on the other side of that very thin door is a creature who wants to kill him and his family. Merril finds a pickax which they use to bar the door, but in the process the light is put out and a scuffle ensues. When light is again found, Morgan is having an asthmatic attack, and has left his medication upstairs. Graham's faith in Providence finally comes to its greatest possible low, and he actually expresses his hatred for the God that could cause such things to happen.
Graham fails to see that Morgan's asthma was given to him for a reason, just as all things happen for a reason. So he speaks to God as he helps Morgan work his way through the attack, demanding that God not take another from him and telling God that he hates Him. God, fortunately for Graham, does not hate him, and knows that even such things as these have a purpose. Morgan survives the attack, and the family remains in the house through the night; Graham goes to sleep, as he says the next morning, fully believing that they would not live out the night.
In the morning, Merril finds that the radio works; the news is that Philadelphia and its outlying counties are free of the hostile aliens, and because Morgan still needs his medication, Merril agrees that it is time to risk going upstairs. They find the house empty; but as Merril goes up the stairs, sunlight is shining through a curtain which is marked with stars and moons. This is the most obvious example of traditional imagery of Providence; the stars and moons are clear indicators that Providence is guiding events, always has and always will. The whole family goes upstairs, and Graham leaves Morgan on the couch to get the television, so that they can see how the victory was won.
When he returns, Morgan is in the arms of an alien; Graham can see that it is the same alien whose fingers he cut off in the veterinarian's house. Merril had said that the aliens had left so quickly that they had left some of their wounded; now the family knew the truth of the news. Merril stops, seeing the alien, and the action is entirely within Graham's soul; everything begins to come together, and we finally get to hear what his wife told him, which he attributed to the random shots of her synapses as her body gradually died.
The entire, beautiful scheme of Providence begins to come together. Graham remembers that his wife had told Merril to "swing away." Merril had been a baseball player, and had mounted a bat with which he had won a record on the wall of the house. It was in that very room. Graham suddenly realizes that it wasn't random, that there was a purpose for her death. Had she not died, they might not be alive; had she not said "swing away," he might not know what to do; if Morgan did not have asthma--
Graham tells Merril to "swing away"; Merril gets the hint and reaches up to grab the bat. The alien then sprays the poison gas which the creatures had used as a weapon into Morgan's nose and mouth, then drops him to prepare to defend himself. Graham grabs the boy and runs out of the house, praying fervently; Merril takes the bat and squares off with the alien, and soon the battle will begin.
Graham holds Morgan outside, praying; at last he sees the purpose for the asthma, he sees the purpose for the horrible attack without medication that Morgan had had the night before. Morgan's air passages would be closed; his attack would tighten his air passages, and the poison would consequently be unable to penetrate into his lungs. Merril is facing off with the alien, swinging and fighting. Finally he swings at a glass of water that was left on a table; it sprays onto the alien, who screams in pain, and the water clearly burns his skin. The picture is now complete; everything has a purpose. Even the idle habits of little girls.
Throughout the film, Beau is constantly drinking partial glasses of water and leaving the remnants around the house. She claims that they become contaminated, citing "hair" and "amoebas" as the culprits. Now, we see that even this happens for a reason. The water is what harms the aliens; that is how they were defeated. Merril begins batting the glasses at the alien, searing its skin; it is now on the retreat. Finally, a mighty swing, and the bat snaps in two on the alien's body; the creature falls to the ground, knocking a piece of furniture as he does so. A glass of water is on top; the water tips over and pours on the creature's head, and he screams and, shortly, his breathing stops, and he dies. Merril drops the piece of the bat he is still holding and runs outside to see Morgan; he, along with Beau, thinks the boy has died.
But now Graham will not give up hope; now Graham knows that God does not let things happen by accident. He prays; he believes; and Morgan survives. All things have a purpose; all things happen for a reason. Graham finally realizes that, and conforms his life to it. That is the great lesson of Signs, a lesson that the world would do well to hear. All things serve the will of God; let us conform our wills to His, and we will serve him better each day.